Amused

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)


Director: Steven Spielberg

MPAA Rating: PG-13

with Harrison Ford, Cate Blanchett, Karen Allen and Shia LaBeouf

In a post World War II era, the Nazis have been defeated and the West faces the new threat of Communism. For Indiana it gets personal when he is kidnapped by the KGB and brought to a secret US storage facility to locate an autopsied alien body from a UFO crash. Reluctantly the epic hero finds what the foreign agents are looking for. Despite the obligatory betrayal and big guns, Indiana escapes from the Soviets and even bigger trouble. Because of government suspicion Indiana gets fired from his teaching job, and feels forced to leave the country. But before his departure, Jones is approached by a Brandoesque post-pubescent who wants a word. Communists watch Professor Henry Jones when the young man brings him a coded message from an old colleague, Henry Oxley. It seems that Oxley has been entangled it a bit of trouble. Led by the brilliant Irina Spalko, the KGB's tail Jones and the young man, Mutt, to Peru. With Oxley's code, they find a legendary skull made of a single piece of crystal. If Jones can deliver the skull in its rightful place, all may be well; but if Irina takes it to its origin, she might gain powers that would endanger the West. The aging professor and young buck join forces with a woman from Jones's past to face the dangers of the jungle, the forces of the Soviet Union, and the supernatural.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is part of a franchise of movies that is built on the concept of the early weeklies: a roller coaster ride that takes you through highs and lows ups and downs at a fast pace with new unforeseen twists and turns. That was the expectation I had when stepping into the movie theater. With Spielberg at the helm, with producers Lucas, Kennedy, and Marshall behind it, and Ford as Indiana – I believed there would be nothing stopping the usual thrill ride. I started watching the film, and kept waiting for the story to begin – then the film was over. I came in for the big drop and was left with the bunny hill. Most of the ride was lackadaisical, and I had to suspend disbelief a lot to get engaged. It was Indiana Jones meets Back to the Future meets Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Ford is staring to show his age, and is reminiscent of a sixties John Wayne character – a slow moving target dodging bullets and arrows. He has lost some of his puppy-charm, but has made up for that loss in an improved acting performance. The movie is a bit dark for an Indiana Jones flick, and having the KGB for antagonists works, but the ideological difference between the good-guys and the bad-guys are not as defined as in the preceding films. Overall, not bad for an action adventure movie, but it should not really be considered in the same league as previous editions. Better luck next time…

Knudegaard Rating:
5 out of 10